A Window With A View was installed in the “button room” where I set up my studio during my residency at The F Project. I had planned to create an entirely different work, however on a trip to the Fletcher Jones Market, formerly the Fletcher Jones factory, I discovered a sewing pattern for curtains and a big collection of vintage doilies and placemats. I was compelled to utilise them and create something more site specific, as I soon learned that the residency had been converted from a funeral home. I have been exploring the idea of the bishōjo as a symbol for eternal youth, whose existence demonstrates our very fear of decay and mortality, thus it felt like no coincidence that I ended up living in this house for four weeks! (I also rewatched the last few episodes of Six Feet Under during my stay).

The window in the button room in fact had no view, and I’m using the title to suggest that the bishōjo is the view who is constantly subject to the male gaze. Using the found objects became a way for me to collaborate with the women before me, and also illuminate the gendered division of labour within the domestic sphere, which is often unacknowledged, exploited and fetishised. I’d like to think of the bishōjo as a ghost who haunts the patriarchy, folding time to connect past, present and future generations of women.